[1.1.2.5-1.1.9.1] Beginner's Lightning Vindicator caster

thanks, i see so i shouldnt be following the skill tree100% since stormbox was nerfed twice :S i think vit darkone ritualist should be better for this current patch?

Go with Ritualist, if you like it - can’t go wrong. And GD is all about multiple characters, so maybe you can play all builds you find interesting. :slightly_smiling_face:

Also Ritualist have nice leveling guide done by my friend @sir_spanksalot , if you have more questions I or him can respond in the topics!

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Will go with ritualist and start a few char to see which i like, thank u again for your time and help. appreciate it. Have a nice day :slight_smile:

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What about the ranged version? Is it viable in the last patch?

Is it possible to level as a 2h ranged, assuming that I will have the merit and be able to target farm the appropriate gear as soon as it gets available?

Yes to both questions. If you find early on appropriate gun you can level 2H gun from early questions. Also when you reach act 5, this rifle is common and you can do some nasty damage to your opponents.

Caster version was better when I made it but Storm Box was nerfed, so ranged might be even better now. Only difference is your goal end game. Ranged will benefit from Ultos, while caster - Light Defender.

If you don’t mind, i have a couple more questions.

The devotion path should remain the same as in the original build, or some adjustments have to be made for 1.1.5.2?

The gun starts to drop at lvl 40. I assume i can use any other gun with +% lightning damage just fine until lvl 40, even without conversions, right?

Devotion route is flexible. In budget builds you lack best possible gear, so make sense to shoot for higher base stats from devotions. I would try to fit Spider though for better attack speed.

About gun you’re right. You can use any lightning one until you can farm for Sparkthrower.

As a new player, this is the part that I hate the most in any advice lol.

They might be flexible, but I am goddamn awful at picking them by myself…

At least tell me which ones are must-haves, which are good to have and which are situational, so I can try to squeeze the most :slight_smile:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/RZRgmXON

can someone optimize the devotion setup for the newest patch and what skill bound to what devotion proc?
for some stuff i am nut sure. Bat realy to storm totem? Is tempest better as spear of the heaven? etc… etc…

edit: at the time i asked the question. there was no patch anoucement there :smiley:

You just edited the comment, right?

Actually I would go Ulots+Spear perhaps. Your map is with healing spells, not sure how good they will be and Tempest, which is for electrocute stacking, I like it as Druid for example, where you can have 100% uptime.

The greediest offensive devotion route is this:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zykOaN

Nery I love you :smiley: You replay to a 3month old comment for helping. Thx a lot.
In the mean time i farmed the full ultos set and be godlike. BUT. I stop playing for a while and I will come back for the next patch.
But i will delete all my progress and start fresh like always for a new patch. And i will try a new beginner build from the great build desinger here in the forums :))

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Hello there!

I just bought the game, would you guys still recommend this as a starter build?

The caster version caught my eyes :cloud_with_lightning:

Caster version still should be good. Storm totems are excellent skill for deleting enemies.

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Okay then, thank you for your quick response and for the guide aswell!

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Hi Nery, I’m following your build for the ranged and I am having issues with it. When I open the build it doesn’t show me that you have used primal strike or savagery at all and nowhere does it say when to add it in. I didn’t notice until I read gameplay saying use one on the left click and one on the right click and when I watched the video of the gameplay in confirmed you used it. How am I supposed to incorporate it into the build and how much? Max? I’m not very good at these things so I was really excited to follow your build and have everything laid out for me but now I feel really lost. I saw a past comment about it but it just confused me more.

If you look closely there are two builds with budget gear - lightning caster one and 2H ranged Primal Strike. But the leveling guide is solely for the caster version, since at time was my prefered method. So you can start leveling as caster and then switch to ranged or star with ranged and adapt your build accordingly.

So for ranged build I would use any lightning gun I can find first few acts, until I can find Sparkthrower weapon act 5. Devotion, start with Elemenetal Storm from Rhowan and then work to get Widow, Kraken and Hydra. Also Ghoul for defense will help you and Sailor’s Guide. Actually I may do separate guide for ranged in the future to not confuse players but yeah it’s more of a casting oriented guide.

About Primal Strike, it should go on left mouse button and spam it with Thunderous Strike mod taken. Savagery is hit, so you can charge it. No need to spam it. I know @tqFan made a script for auto casting Savagery. But Savagery is pure buff in Primal Strike buffs. For leveling I would use Savagery only ultimate difficulty, perhaps even 94+ level, when I have my end game gear put together.

Hey Nery.
I’m a newbie here in grim dawn, and after trying out a few different classes I landed on your 2H ranged ulto’s vindicator that I found on youtube, after getting to 94 and getting my ass handed to me by Korvaak in ultimate I figured I would try out your casterversion with storm totems.
Loving the totemplaystyle more than the shooting (even tho it feels less tanky).
Now, my real question is, I started farming for the ultos set (got helm recipe and just started farming hearts), is the Ultos set good for totembuilds aswell?
I see the 5th bonus is for more dmg on primal strike that I dont use, but will Ultos’ Wrath proc from my totem or stormbox crits? Should I continue the farm or look for another set?

GTlink https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28LMQp2 (I know I lack some augments and components :wink: )

Ultos is exactly a Primal Strike set, if you love totems more there’s Light’s Defender set to support totems and stormbox playstyle.

Ultos’ Wrath would proc from any instance of damage you’re doing, including totems and stormbox. But ofcourse using ultos items on this kind of a build is kinda placeholder, I mean sure you can if you don’t have anything better yet but no way it’s best in slot.

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Made an account just to say thanks for this build guide. I’m a casual player and this guide allowed me to level a new character from 1-100 in about a week. I never made it passed 65 before. I even recorded my 100 ding moment. Amazing guide and big shout out to Nery for this one. The caster build is awesome!

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Thanks for the kind words!

Guide is little outdated but glad it’s still working and congrats on your first level 100 character! :slightly_smiling_face:

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